Women in dance video with Giske outraged

Women in dance video with Giske outraged at Fagforbundet

The women who made the dance video with Trond Giske feel that they are abused in a political game. They are very critical of the Norwegian Trade Union, Fagforbundet.

“It is shocking to be used this way in favour of the federation’s political interest,” the woman who is dancing in the video tells NRK.

The six-second long video forms the basis for the concern report that union representative of Fagforbundet, Knut Sandli, sent party secretary of the Labour Party (Ap), Kjersti Stenseng. He justifies the message with that he reacts to Giske’s behaviour. Trade Union Representative Terje Ferstad, in his turn, sent a notification on the video to the Leader of the Election Committee of Trøndelag Labour.

Not a warning

None of them spoke to the woman who danced with Giske during a birthday celebration at a nightclub in Oslo, or with her friend who filmed the incident. They are both very clear on that the content of the video is completely unproblematic, and that it was made as «an internal feature» by the group of friends.

“It was not a warning or a concern notice,” the two agree.

The women work in the health services and are members of the Trade Union (LO) organisation, Fagforbundet, themselves. Now they are considering dropping their memberships.

«I can clearly understand that they are upset. The case has probably become considerably more unpleasant for them than I could have predicted. I responded to Giske’s behaviour in a video that I was shown. My intention was to notify the Labour Party’s management about this in the nomination process they were in. After this, it turned out that the video was already made public. I then chose to be interviewed by VG when they called me.», Sandli writes in an SMS to NRK.

Ferstad is not willing to comment on the criticism by the women.